Traffic Source Guidelines & Restrictions
Introduction
This document outlines the compliance rules, editorial standards, and content restrictions relevant to each native advertising platform used in our campaigns. As Campaign Coordinator, you will be responsible for ensuring that advertorials, landing pages, and ad creative submitted to each platform meet that platform's specific requirements before launch.
Violating platform policies results in creative rejections, account flags, or in serious cases, account suspension — all of which delay live traffic and damage campaign profitability. This memo is your primary reference. When in doubt, escalate before submitting.
Permissiveness Ranking
The six platforms are ranked below from most permissive to most restrictive regarding the types of claims, headline language, and verticals they allow. This is the single most important orientation for a new coordinator.
This ranking reflects the practical reality of what gets approved day-to-day. As you move right on that spectrum, headline claims must become more measured, health benefit language must soften, income-related angles become nearly impossible, and the editorial standards of the publisher network tighten significantly.
MGID
Broad international audience. Strong reach in Eastern Europe, Southeast Asia, Latin America, Middle East, and Africa. Skews toward general interest and lifestyle content consumers. Younger-to-mid age range overall, varies heavily by geo.
Mid-tier to lower-tier publishers globally. News portals, entertainment sites, and regional content hubs. Less premium than Taboola/Outbrain, which gives MGID more editorial flexibility.
Geographic Coverage & Restrictions
MGID offers some of the broadest geo targeting available, particularly for non-Tier-1 markets. Key notes:
Strong markets
- Ukraine, Poland, Romania, Czech Republic
- Philippines, Indonesia, Vietnam, India
- Brazil, Mexico, Colombia, Argentina
- UAE, Saudi Arabia, Egypt (with Arabic creatives)
- US, UK, Canada, Australia (good volume)
Country-specific notes
- EU geos may require GDPR-compliant landing pages
- Arabic markets need fully localized RTL creatives
- German-language campaigns require translated headlines
- French-language content should target .FR + Francophone
- No hard geo-blocking on most verticals
Claims Permissiveness — Health & Wellness
- "Thousands of people say this fixed their snoring"
- Strong before/after framing in copy (not always in images)
- Specific symptom-relief claims (snoring, joint pain, bloating)
- Income and lifestyle claims with reasonable supporting copy
- First-person testimonial narratives with named characters
- Urgency and scarcity language ("limited stock", "offer ends")
- Doctor/expert attribution in body copy (not as implied endorsement)
Headline Keywords — What Passes Regularly
Image & Creative Restrictions
- Before/after body images allowed but must not show graphic wound/skin imagery
- GIF creatives accepted but must be under 2MB (use lossy compression if needed)
- No explicit nudity; tasteful lifestyle imagery is fine
- Clickbait-style thumbnail crops generally pass editorial review
RevContent
US-heavy with strong UK and Canada reach. Skews toward older adults (45–70+), particularly for health and financial content. Publishers include conservative news, political commentary, health lifestyle, and entertainment gossip sites.
Mixed-tier publishers. Includes some mid-premium news and entertainment. Higher volume of politically-leaning and alternative health publishers than Taboola/Outbrain, which gives more latitude for certain claims.
Geographic Coverage & Restrictions
Strong markets
- United States (primary volume)
- United Kingdom
- Canada
- Australia / New Zealand
- Limited EU reach
Country-specific notes
- US English is the primary supported language
- UK/CA content should be locally adapted (not just US copy)
- International volumes outside Tier-1 are low
- No major geo-blocking but international bidding less competitive
Claims Permissiveness
RevContent sits just below MGID in permissiveness. Strong health benefit claims are allowed, but RevContent's editorial team does push back more often on very explicit cure or disease-claim language. The key distinction is framing: symptom improvement language outperforms explicit disease treatment language.
- Benefit-led headlines: "finally sleep through the night", "joints feel 10 years younger"
- Social proof: "thousands of Americans are switching to..."
- First-person narrative advertorials with character names
- Urgency language: "limited time", "only X left"
- Cost/value comparisons in body copy
- AI income and financial opportunity angles
- Explicit disease cure claims ("cures diabetes") will be rejected
- Pharmaceutical product names require documentation
- Very aggressive weight-loss numbers ("lose 30 lbs in 30 days") are borderline
Headline Keywords
Taboola
Broad reach across all adult demographics, 25–65+. Skews toward news and information consumers. Key audiences: health-conscious adults 40+, finance-aware professionals, tech readers. Premium publisher base means higher-intent, higher-quality traffic.
Premium and mid-premium publishers globally. Includes major news organizations, TV network sites, and established digital publishers. The premium publisher base means stricter editorial standards — publishers can block advertisers whose content feels misaligned.
Geographic Coverage & Restrictions
Strong markets
- United States (largest volume)
- United Kingdom, Germany, France
- Italy, Spain, Brazil
- Japan, Australia, Canada
- Israel (Taboola's home market, strong)
Country-specific notes
- UK inventory: avoid sports and entertainment publisher placements for DR campaigns — low converters
- GDPR landing page compliance required for all EU geos
- Japanese content requires local adaptation, not just translation
- Apple News placements are a separate sub-category (see next section)
- Publisher-level blacklisting is important — cull by site after first week
Claims Permissiveness
Taboola occupies the middle ground. The editorial team enforces a meaningful step up in standards compared to MGID or RevContent, but direct-response health and finance campaigns run successfully when the language is appropriately framed. The key shift: move from "cure/fix" framing to "support/improve" framing.
- Benefit-oriented health headlines with measured language
- Social proof framing: "1,000s say they finally sleep deeply"
- News/discovery framing: "Researchers find that..."
- Question-based headlines that imply benefit without claiming it
- Comparison cost angles: "$29 solution vs. $200 alternative"
- Lifestyle improvement framing for financial products
- Explicit disease treatment or cure claims
- Before/after images showing body transformation
- Fake countdown timers or false urgency on landing pages
- Misleading headline-to-landing-page mismatch
- Sensationalist image cropping (arrows, circles, red highlights on body parts)
- Claims that imply clinical proof without substantiation
Headline Keywords
Tracking & Pixel Notes
make_purchase event name with millisecond-format timestamps. Verify pixel firing on new landing pages before launch — do not assume it is firing correctly just because the page loads. Post-suspension campaigns require a clean re-setup of tracking; the prior pixel configuration may not carry over.
RevContent — Apple News
Apple device users in English-speaking markets. Skews premium: higher-income households, educated professionals, 35–65 age range. iPhone/iPad users consuming curated news. This audience is ad-sophisticated — overt clickbait performs poorly.
Apple News app placements, including top-tier editorial outlets available inside the Apple News ecosystem. This is one of the most premium environments in native advertising. The audience quality is high; creative quality expectations match that.
Geographic Coverage
Available markets
- United States (primary)
- United Kingdom
- Canada
- Australia
Notes
- US has by far the largest Apple News volume
- UK and CA require locally adapted copy (no US-centric references)
- Landing pages must be mobile-optimized — Apple users are predominantly on mobile
Claims Permissiveness
Apple News placements apply an editorial standard closer to what an Apple-curated magazine would publish. The key principle: the ad must not feel out of place sitting next to a New York Times or Wall Street Journal article. This means the headline style, image quality, and body copy tone all need to read as editorial-adjacent, not as traditional DR.
- Story-driven headlines with a credible first-person hook
- "I discovered" or "I tried" narrative framing
- Benefit-implied headlines without explicit health claims
- Cost/value angles that feel informational rather than promotional
- Problem-recognition headlines: "Why parents of teen drivers worry about..."
- Any form of health cure, reversal, or treatment claim
- Sensationalist language: "shocking", "secret", "doctors don't want..."
- Unsubstantiated income or financial guarantee claims
- Before/after imagery or body transformation visuals
- Celebrity name-drops or implied endorsements without written consent
- Countdown timers or artificial scarcity on the landing page
- Misleading editorial-style headlines that disguise the ad as news
Creative Standards Unique to Apple News
- Image quality must be high-resolution; low-quality stock photos will be rejected
- The headline must accurately reflect the landing page content — mismatch is a hard reject
- The landing page advertorial must be formatted cleanly — sticky pop-ups, aggressive overlays, or aggressive exit-intent triggers may cause rejection
- If the advertorial presents a "journalist" persona, it cannot imply the piece appeared in a real publication
MediaGo
Japanese-speaking users across Japan, primarily accessing Yahoo Japan and its affiliated publisher network. Age range is broad (30–65+). High consumer trust expectations — Japanese audiences are particularly sensitive to misleading or sensationalist advertising.
Yahoo Japan and its extensive network of affiliated Japanese publishers. High-quality, trusted news and lifestyle publishers. Very premium environment. Content that appears out of place with Japan's advertising norms will not be approved.
Geographic Coverage
MediaGo's audience is almost entirely Japan-based. It is not a platform to use for geo-diverse campaigns. Use it specifically for Japanese-market targeting with fully localized Japanese-language creatives and landing pages.
Claims Permissiveness
- Any health benefit claim must be supported by documentation filed with MediaGo/Yahoo Japan
- Functional food and supplement claims are regulated under Japan's FHCIA — "improves health" is not sufficient without category registration
- Income or financial gain claims require regulatory compliance documentation
- Superlative claims: "best", "number one", "most effective" need third-party substantiation
- Comparative claims against named competitor products are prohibited
- Celebrity endorsements without documented written consent from talent
- Informational-style content that educates without claiming health outcomes
- Testimonials that are clearly labelled as individual experience, not typical results
- Product feature descriptions without therapeutic claims
- Lifestyle improvement angles with no medical reference
Headline & Creative Standards
- Sensationalist language that works on MGID or RevContent is a hard reject here
- Headlines must not overstate or mislead — the Japanese advertising standard (JARO) is enforced
- Images must not show physical transformation, medical equipment, or anything implying medical outcomes
- All images should reflect the actual product or service being sold, no staged demonstrations
Outbrain
Premium audiences across all major English-speaking markets and Western Europe. Heavy skew toward educated, higher-income news readers aged 30–65+. High purchase-intent for well-framed, trustworthy product recommendations. Low tolerance for anything that feels deceptive.
Top-tier premium publishers: major newspapers, TV network websites, financial media. This premium context is why Outbrain converts well when campaigns are compliant — but it also means the highest-level editorial enforcement of any platform we use.
Geographic Coverage & Restrictions
Strong markets
- United States
- United Kingdom
- Germany, France, Italy
- Japan, Australia, Brazil
- Israel (Outbrain's home market)
Country-specific notes
- EU campaigns require full GDPR-compliant landing pages
- UK: FCA-regulated financial content requires compliance disclosures
- Germany: especially strict on health claims (Heilmittelwerbegesetz)
- All markets: landing page must match the market locale entirely
Claims Permissiveness
Outbrain's content policy is explicit and enforced. The standard is essentially: if the claim would not appear in an editorial article on a major news site, it should not appear in an Outbrain campaign. This eliminates most aggressive DR health and income copy.
- All health treatment, cure, reversal, or prevention claims
- Before/after images — prohibited categorically (no exceptions)
- Income guarantees or specific earnings claims
- Misleading "editorial" headlines that disguise the piece as journalism
- Fake review or fake news-style landing pages
- Countdown timers, pop-ups, or aggressive exit-intent on landing pages
- Celebrity name or image use without documented written consent
- Misleading comparison claims against named competitors
- Sensationalist language: "doctors stunned", "secret", "loophole", "trick"
- Clearly labelled sponsored content that reads like editorial in tone
- Product discovery framing: "Here's what to look for when choosing..."
- Lifestyle improvement stories with no medical or income claims
- Informational news-style hooks: "New technology is changing how families..."
- Problem-aware, solution-teasing headlines without explicit outcome promises
- Testimonial-style copy clearly marked as individual experience
Landing Page Requirements
Quick Comparison Table
Use this as a rapid reference when reviewing creative before submission. Green = generally permitted, Amber = requires care/documentation, Red = prohibited.
| Rule / Feature | MGID | RevContent | Taboola | RC Apple News | MediaGo | Outbrain |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Health Claims | ||||||
| Benefit language ("sleep better") | ✓ Allowed | ✓ Allowed | ✓ Allowed | △ Mild only | △ With docs | △ Informational only |
| Symptom-relief claims | ✓ Allowed | ✓ Allowed | △ Soft framing | ✗ Avoid | ✗ Prohibited | ✗ Prohibited |
| Cure / reversal claims | △ Usually rejected | ✗ Rejected | ✗ Rejected | ✗ Rejected | ✗ Prohibited | ✗ Prohibited |
| Copy Style | ||||||
| Sensationalist language ("shocking", "secret") | ✓ Allowed | △ Use sparingly | ✗ Avoid | ✗ Rejected | ✗ Rejected | ✗ Rejected |
| First-person narrative advertorial | ✓ Allowed | ✓ Allowed | ✓ Allowed | ✓ Allowed | △ Clearly labelled | △ Clearly labelled |
| Urgency / scarcity language | ✓ Allowed | ✓ Allowed | △ Soft phrasing | ✗ Avoid | ✗ Avoid | ✗ Rejected |
| Income / financial opportunity claims | ✓ Allowed | ✓ Allowed | △ Soft framing | △ Very soft only | ✗ Docs required | ✗ Rejected |
| Creative / Images | ||||||
| Before/after imagery | △ Allowed (limited) | △ Context-dependent | ✗ Rejected | ✗ Rejected | ✗ Rejected | ✗ Prohibited |
| GIF / animated creative | ✓ Under 2MB | ✓ Allowed | ✓ Allowed | △ Limited motion | △ Platform rules | ✗ Static only |
| Landing Page | ||||||
| Countdown timers | △ Allowed | △ Allowed | ✗ Flag risk | ✗ Rejected | ✗ Rejected | ✗ Prohibited |
| Exit-intent pop-ups | ✓ Allowed | △ Light usage | △ Use caution | ✗ Rejected | ✗ Rejected | ✗ Prohibited |
| "Sponsored" disclosure required | △ Recommended | △ Recommended | ✓ Required | ✓ Required | ✓ Required | ✓ Required |
Universal Rules — All Platforms
Regardless of platform, the following standards apply to every campaign we run.
- No fake news site styling (fabricated URLs, logos of real news outlets without permission)
- No implied celebrity endorsement without signed written consent from talent or their management
- No auto-playing audio on landing pages
- No content targeting minors in any health, financial, or direct-response vertical
- No completely fabricated testimonials presented as real — testimonials must be based on genuine customer feedback
- No misleading medical imagery (doctors in white coats implying clinical trials, hospital settings)
- No claim that a product is "free" when it requires a subscription or recurring billing
FTC / Regulatory Compliance (English-language markets)
All advertorials and landing pages targeting US, UK, Canadian, or Australian consumers must include a clear "Advertisement", "Sponsored Content", or "Paid Promotion" disclosure. For US campaigns, FTC guidelines require that this disclosure is above the fold and in a font size that is legible. This is non-negotiable across all platforms.
Localization Standards
When campaigns are localized to non-English markets, the localized copy must be reviewed by a fluent speaker in that language before submission — not just machine-translated. This applies especially to German, French, Italian, Polish, Turkish, Arabic, and Japanese. Poor translations trigger rejections and can reflect badly on account standing.
Coordinator Pre-Launch Checklist
Before any campaign goes live, confirm each of the following:
- Platform identified: You know which platform(s) this is going to and have reviewed the rules for each
- Headline reviewed: All keywords and claims match the permissiveness level of the target platform
- Landing page reviewed: The advertorial/landing page has been checked against the platform rules — not just the headlines
- Disclosure in place: "Sponsored", "Advertisement", or equivalent disclosure is visible above the fold on all landing pages
- Geo localization confirmed: If targeting a non-English market, copy reviewed by a fluent speaker; locale-specific references are accurate (currency, units, geography, organisations)
- Tracking verified: Pixel is firing correctly; S2S postback is configured with the correct event name and timestamp format for the platform
- Creative assets sized correctly: Images meet platform resolution requirements; GIFs are under 2MB where animated creative is used
- Approval timeline noted: Escalate to account manager if launch date is tight relative to expected review turnaround (MGID: 24h, RevContent: 24–48h, Taboola: 24–72h, Apple News: 48–96h, MediaGo: variable, Outbrain: 48–96h)
- Publisher blacklist applied: For campaigns with prior run history, the publisher blocklist from previous cycles has been applied before launching